Being a Woman in 2018

I think it’s easy to want to shy away from writing about feminism and women’s rights in 2018.

The term ‘feminist’ has bad connotations – I mean, it’s technically unavoidable in this modern day era.

It would probably be easier and way less risky to avoid writing about the topic altogether, but I really struggle with that concept. I created this space to write about the things that matter to me, and surprise, surprise – the wellbeing and rights of women are extremely important to me. Funny how that works, huh?

I mean, sure, I would love to write a one thousand word piece on everything that’s wrong in our society.

But I’m not here to spread negativity and anger – it’s not really my style – so in todays post I thought I would muse on what being a woman in 2018 is really like. I want to get real and I want to be honest and open and hopefully garner further consideration and conversation on the plight of women in the modern day.

So, without further adieu, here’s the reality of being a woman in 2018:

Every month, we have to pay for ‘women’s hygeine products’. The killer here is that, although they’re not necessarily ‘expensive’, tampons and pads are still an expense that only half of the population has to pay for because most governments still consider them as ‘luxury items’. I don’t see how that’s fair, considering the fact that none of us women chose to have a vagina. You can make the argument that the production of these goods does cost money – and I agree with that – but how are women equal if our expenses are automatically higher than men because of our menstrual cycles?

Less than thirty percent of the worlds researchers are women. This statistic blows my mind.

Protection from pregnancy is largely on women. Sure – both sexes can purchase condoms, but they’re not 100% effective. If couples want to find safer ways to avoid pregnancy, the onus is on women to make a doctors appointment and actually implement the contraceptive – which could be a pill, implant or injection – and then have to deal with the side effects {like nausea and migraines} while still going to work and contributing to society. Fun, right?

4 out of 5 victims of human trafficking are female.

The gender pay gap is realer than ever. As is workplace gender discrimination. Did you know that less than 25% of parliamentarians worldwide are women?

There’s always something for women to be afraid of. Walking alone in the park? You could get raped! Turn down a drunk man at a bar? You could get killed! Reporting sexual assault from a co-worker? You could get fired! Telling the police that your ex is stalking you? You won’t be believed! I think men would be shocked by how aware women need to be at all times and the practices we undertake daily to avoid being killed or assaulted.

Women experience domestic violence at a higher rate than men. In Australia alone, one woman is killed per week by her partner.

Anything pink comes with a tax. That’s right – buying razors in the womens aisle as opposed to the mens aisle will result in you paying around thirteen percent more at the checkout. Makes sense – right?

In countries where abortion is perceived as wrong, women who choose to undertake the procedure are harassed and assaulted – because men aren’t involved in the process at all, right?!

62 million girls across the world are still being denied an education, even though the people behind environmentalism, stem cell isolation, radiology, computer software and contraception were all women.

I think, as a whole, the reality of being a woman in 2018 is that we are still undervalued, mistreated and underrepresented in all forms of government and legislation. Until we gain equal rights to our opposite-sex-counterparts, we’re always going to exist in this world as secondary citizens with men making decisions about what we can and can’t do with our careers, social lives, bodies and relationships.

Terrifying, isn’t it.

84% of A Girl & Grey readers are women, and I wrote this post because I think having these sorts of discussions is so important – if not for us, then for the women of the future – our daughters and sisters and neighbours and friends. So, to all of the female readers and perusers of agirlandgrey.com – I want to know: what are your experiences as a female in 2018? Let me know in the comments below or send me an email: sharni@agirlandgrey.com. I’d love to hear from you.

8 Comments

That’s an amazing post, and I totally agree with you, it’s so sad that, to this day, we are still mistreated and underrepresented! I work in the film industry and during film shootings, I always have men who sexually harass me or just flirt with me or want to work with me if I go on a date with them in exchange. I try my best to defend myself and thank god, I was always able to deal with it but it’s so annoying!!

Especially if you want to buy organic products without bleach or chemicals! I only purchase organic tampons and I have full respect for the companies producing such clean products – but I just wish there were better initiatives for womens health and hygiene {that don’t cost $2K a year}.

I just want to say thank you for writing this post. It take courage! It’s sad that a good portion of the population will just tolerate these things making it a norm leading it to be “not so serious” anymore because it’s just a fact of life. Shedding light and bringing people to realisation is so important. They should make a rule that anything pink is discounted! Just to comment on women in workplaces, it’s ridiculous how cautious some organisation can be around the subject just to protect themselves.
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